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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Bad Beginning, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family and Parenthood
Surveillance, Supervision, and Guardianship
Children vs. Adults
Intelligence and Ethics
Summary
Analysis
Lemony Snicket suggests that first impressions are often wrong, citing paintings and Gorgonzola cheese as good examples. He regretfully tells his readers, however, that the Baudelaire children’s first impression of Count Olaf was not wrong: he is a bad person, and his house is gross. According to the narrator, the children are forced to share one bedroom with only one uncomfortable bed in it. Violet makes a bed out of the curtains for Sunny, but this means the children wake up early to the sunrise every morning. Moreover, their closet is a cardboard box, and the only thing Count Olaf gives the children as entertainment is a pile of rocks.
Chapter 3 begins with a classic bait-and-switch, with Lemony Snicket implying that the children’s first impressions of Count Olaf are wrong, only to confirm that he is in fact a horrible, mean person. This is characteristic of Snicket’s style of narration, not only in its playful, humorous tone, but also in his constant undermining of his readers’ expectations. Snicket’s peculiar examples of wrong first impressions––like gorgonzola cheese––are also telling, providing greater insight into the eccentricities of the story’s narrator.
Themes
According to Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf doesn’t even have a nice personality to make up for the awful accommodations: he is cruel and demanding, and he smells bad. Fortunately for the children, however, he is not around much, and the children often wake to an empty house and a long list of difficult chores. One morning, the children find a note asking to them to prepare dinner for Count Olaf’s acting troupe, signed with an eye. The children think back to times they failed attempts at cooking in the past and reflect on how much they miss their parents and how much they hate Count Olaf and the house. Violet says they need to stay optimistic, and Klaus agrees and suggests that they find a cookbook.
After several days of living with him, it becomes clear that Count Olaf’s house is not only nasty, but so is he. He treats the children cruelly, asking them to complete difficult chores while spending almost no time at the house. Eventually, after being tasked with cooking an entire dinner for Olaf’s troupe, Klaus come to a breaking point, and Violet must calm him down. This illustrates how traumatic experiences, when suppressed, can bubble up into outbursts. It also highlights the positive, cathartic power of empathy, as well as the parental role that Violet comes to play for her siblings. Even though she is under the same stress as Klaus, as the eldest child, it falls to her to be positive and to support her younger siblings.
Themes
Someone knocks on the door and the children wonder whether someone wants to visit them, like any of old their friends. It is Justice Strauss at the door, however, and she apologizes for not having come sooner, explaining that she’s been busy working on a difficult legal case. She asks how the children are doing and if they want anything. The Baudelaire children think about what a horrible experience they’re having and about all the things they want, like to be with their parents again. They say none of those things, however, and Klaus only asks to borrow a cookbook, explaining what Count Olaf had asked them to do. Violet wants to say that Count Olaf is evil, but out of politeness just says that he gives them a lot of responsibilities.
This passage highlights the disadvantage that the Baudelaire children’s upbringing puts them in against bad people like Count Olaf. Because they were raised to be polite, they do not mention Count Olaf’s poor treatment of them to Justice Strauss. Instead, they choose the high moral ground, making it difficult for them to deal with someone like Count Olaf, who does not. This changes as the story progresses, however, with the children eventually learning to defend themselves against Count Olaf’s cruelty and scheming. Accordingly, this passage highlights the children’s innocence before Count Olaf’s corrupting influence.
Themes
Justice Strauss offers to let the children find a cookbook at her home. Once there, the children discover with delight that Justice Strauss has a huge library, and she offers to let them borrow books from it at any time. She points them in the direction of the cookbooks, and then Violet asks after books about mechanical engineering, Klaus asks after books about wolves, and Sunny shrieks (her way of asking for picture book). Justice Strauss is pleased by the children’s enthusiasm for books but recommends that they find a recipe before reading other things. Eventually the children find a recipe for a dish called Puttanesca that seems easy to make. With Justice Strauss as their neighbor, the children feel more optimistic about their future with Count Olaf.
Justice Strauss is true to the Baudelaire children’s first impression of her. She is warm, kind, and generous, offering to let them use her large private library and helping them shop for ingredients for Olaf’s dinner. If anything, she is too kind, as she still assumes the best of Count Olaf, despite him asking the Baudelaire children to cook dinner for his entire troupe. Being so good herself, presumably it is hard for to imagine someone could be as cruel as Olaf.
Themes
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